Posts under ‘Pollution’

A vote in the EU has paved the way for the European Commission to restrict the use of pesticides linked to bee deaths in scientific studies. There is great concern across Europe about the collapse of bee populations. Neonicotinoid chemicals in pesticides are believed to harm bees and the European Commission says they should be [...]

 This article appeared in print under the headline “Nowhere to run…” 29 April 2013 by Fred Pearce Book information Just Business: Multinational corporations and human rights by John Gerard Ruggie Published by: Norton Price: £14.99 EXTRACT Other examples he discusses include the toxic solvents and child labour used to make fashionable Nike sportswear in the [...]

Financial Post Staff | 13/04/26 Three workers at a Shell Canada refinery in Sarnia, Ontario were sent to hospital Friday morning following a hydrogen sulphide exposure at the facility. “Shell can confirm the three workers were exposed to hydrogen sulphide (H2S) while cleaning equipment at the refinery,” a company statement said. “The workers are in [...]

The US Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit against the Royal Dutch Shell Petroleum Company brought by alleged human rights victims. The ruling, which was handed down last Wednesday, is seen as a serious setback for the Ogoni community in the Niger Delta, who alleged gross human rights abuses during the mid-1990s by the military government [...]

 Not Shell, but Chevron using similar legal tactics…. By CLIFFORD KRAUSS: April 12, 2013 HOUSTON — An environmental case that has pitted Chevron against Ecuadorean Amazon villagers for two decades has taken another bizarre twist, with an American consulting firm now recanting research favorable to the villagers’ claims of pollution in remote tracts of jungle. [...]

12 April 2013 Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, said, Wednesday [10 April], it had begun the decommissioning of its facilities in Ogoniland, Rivers State, with the commencement of an audit of its assets in the area. Shell said in a statement the process began with bush clearing in the fourth quarter of last year, [...]

EXTRACTS: Last month Shell said it was forced to close the Nembe Creek oil pipeline, which carries about 150,000 barrels a day, to clear away oil split following a theft. As more oil is pillaged, there is a growing threat of an environmental disaster in Nigeria, Shell said in its annual sustainability report. While Nigeria [...]

LAGOS — Shell on Thursday said it had launched a review of its oil and gas assets in Nigeria’s massively polluted Ogoniland region, resuming work in the area two decades after unrest forced the company to pull out. The Anglo-Dutch oil major said the move was not part of an attempt to restart oil production [...]

The Brazilian units of Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Germany’s BASF agreed to pay 370.8 million Brazilian reais ($187 million) to settle a lawsuit over suspected contamination at a now-shuttered pesticide plant, Brazil’s Supreme Labor Court said Monday. By Jeff Fick: Dow Jones Newswires: Published April 08, 2013 The Brazilian units of Royal Dutch Shell [...]

This BBC article relates to our recent posting “We wondered who was killing off all the bees: Shell?” The issue in contention is whether neonicotinoids, first developed by Shell Oil in the 1980s to replace the highly toxic organophosphorus insecticides, are in fact lethal to honeybees and songbirds. By Matt McGrath Environment correspondent, BBC News: [...]

Intro by John Donovan: We wondered who was killing off all the bees. Now we know: “First developed by Shell Oil in the 1980s to replace the highly toxic organophosphorus insecticides, neonicotinoids promised an environmentally friendlier solution that was both safer for humans, and more potent against pests. Synthetic derivatives of nicotine, neonicotinoids are designed [...]

Yesterday evening, Dutch TV broadcast a documentary feature about a terrible legacy of deadly pollution from the Isla refinery in Curacao built and operated for many decades by Shell. In 1985 Shell sold the refinery to the Antilleans for the symbolic sum of one guilder, leaving behind huge environmental damage. The contract contained clauses demanded [...]

Oil producer Shell and German chemical company BASF agreed on Monday to pay compensation that could reach 620 million reais ($316 million) to workers exposed over three decades to toxic chemicals at a Brazil plant, prosecutors said. Labor prosecutors say chemical contamination killed 60 Tue Mar 12, 2013 3:23am GMT * Labor prosecutors say chemical [...]

On three dates, records showed, Shell emitted more toxic compounds in a single day than its permits allowed in an entire year. Shell Reports Equipment Failure, Flaring at Deer Park, Texas, Refinery -Filing Published March 10, 2013 by Dow Jones Newswires Shell Oil Co. said equipment failure at its Deer Park Refinery in Deer Park, [...]

Air permit emission limits were grossly violated yet drill operations continued.; Multiple critical engine failures also demonstrate their support vessels’ failed under stress. The eventual grounding of Shell’s giant mobile oil-drilling rig, the Kulluk, off Kodiak Island conveys a serious lack of planning to save a few dollars (before you go boating, check the weather).Could [...]